General Conference at home

Oh, sweet technology! Watching General Conference over here is a bit different than in the States, because the sessions air at 5 and 9 pm. That makes for some late evening watching, but we love that we can actually log onto the internet and watch from our couch. We spent the weekend kicked back at home, eating good food and enjoying the speakers.

To make things easier for us to watch Sammie, Brian rigged up a "Sammie coral" by putting the coffee table on its' side and blocking the exit from the living room. It worked pretty well, and now we're using it regularly!
We had our friends, Joyce and Beth, over for Sunday afternoon. Here's Joyce and her Samantha, and me and our Sam. Joyce's husband, Charles, was out of town, and we missed him. But it was fun to hang with the girls... and Brian.
By Sunday night, we were about out of steam for listening/watching. I resorted to searching for houses (have I mentioned we're looking to move?) while I watched. And Brian put a blanket on his head. Why? No clue.

More Visitors

I know it probably seems like all I ever write about is us going somewhere or people coming to visit us. I guess those are the main happenings around here worth reporting. So... yet again, I write about our latest guests. My mission companion, Tiffney Smith, was here last weekend with two of her sisters. They're doing a little Ireland tour to celebrate her 30th birthday. Fun! Also, they were in and around London for a few days, staying with us, and will be in Paris as well for a couple days before they go home. Talk about big travelers!
Samantha and I joined them for a day in Brighton. It was worth all the waiting in traffic, once we finally got there. The weather was gorgeous and the water looked spectacular. We walked along the beach and out on the pier. For those who have been to Santa Monica Pier in L.A., this is similar, only English and colder.
Sam enjoyed the Bob the Builder toy tractor. At first she wanted to eat Bob's nose and cheeks, which I did not allow. Then she wanted to eat his steering wheel, which was also off limits. So then she smiled politely for the picture and was removed from the vehicle until she can learn to keep her mouth to herself.
Sam, Tiff and I rode the carousel together. Sam liked it, but mainly wanted to get down, and crawl around, which is against the rules. I tried to tell her they'd kick us off if she didn't sit still, but she didn't listen too well. Cutie.
 

Lovely Barcelona!

Brian and I got to take a fun trip to Barcelona two weeks ago. Brian had a work conference there for the weekend, and I tagged along for the ride. We bravely decided to leave Samantha at home with a friend -- which turned out to be a fun time for us and her!
While Brian was in workshops on Friday and Saturday, I hung out at the hotel reading Jane Eyre (a new favorite!) and shopping at the nearby mall. Nice relaxation time! The first evening, we went for a bus ride and a walk along the beach. We were just leaving, when we lucked into a nice 20-minute fireworks display over the ocean! Gorgeous.


It turns out they were having a big "Fiesta Mayor" for the weekend, celebrating some time in the middle ages when the Virgin Mary saved the whole city from the plague. So, they were partying all weekend and we got to be a part of it.

When Brian was done working early Saturday afternoon, we took a bus tour of the city, even though it was POURING rain. When we first boarded the bus, the guide asked, "you actually want to buy tickets?? For today?!" We went up on the open top and claimed our seats (which were very wet, but still fun). It cleared off soon enough and we were glad to have the view from the top!


In Barcelona, they really like the architecture work of Gaudi -- early 1900s. He has some cool, famous houses and a cathedral, "La Sagrada Familia" that we got to see. An interesting detail we learned is that Gaudi died young, when he was hit by a train in 1926. What a loss.



At the end of our bus tour, we got off to see the Olympic Park stadium area, from when Barcelona hosted in 1992. It looked pretty cool, though I'm not sure what they can use all that space for now.
The best was the Olympic swimming pool, built into the side of a hill, with amazing views of the city! Some kids were using the diving boards while we were there, so we got our own little show.


Saturday night, we could hear loud drumming and see smoke and lights up a street so we followed the crowd to catch the commotion. We were just in time to see something called the parade of diablitos -- little devils. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

There were drummers of all ages, and hundreds of little boys, probably between 6-12 years old, all dressed in different matching devil costumes. They were lining up for a parade in which they waved long sticks around with loud, dangerous fireworks attached to the end. An adult "fire-holder" would light up their sticks with a blow torch and they'd go off waving something like a huge sparkler. In sane!


They also had huge dragon figures, with fireworks attached to them. We could only stay so long, because the smoke was about to smother us. We got some great videos!

On Sunday, we made it to church (which was quite difficult to find), and then visited some palace gardens and a big market place with all kinds of shops and crafts. We wanted to ride the cable car that would take us back down over the harbor, but instead just took pictures from the top, since we were running low on time and money.

Brian thought this "no smoking" sign in the metro was pretty funny. If you don't have a ticket to ride, the fine is 40 euros. If you're caught smoking the fine is 30 euros and 5 cents! Better have that five cents, mister, or you're in trouble!!

When we got back on the metro, we popped up in the middle of town for a few minutes only to find ourselves in the middle of another big parade. They were playing fun Spanish music and were dancing in the streets. There were huge giant manaquins of knights and fair maidens dressed in costumes from the middle ages -- I guess symbolizing the people who were saved from the plague? It was fun to see everyone celebrating. We really enjoyed ourselves!

Our Cutie Girl

Little Samantha is such a joy to us! I just wish we didn't live so far from friends and family, so you all could get to know her and enjoy her sweetness like we do. Today is an important day for Sammie. Other than it being Randi's birthday, it's also the day Sam officially cut her first tooth! We could sorta tell it was coming up yesterday, but today we could feel it and even hear it, when I put a metal spoon in her mouth.

In addition to the new tooth, today is also big because Sam stood all by herself for the first time (other than really quick fall-over times). She was up for more than five seconds, just hanging out in the middle of the living room floor. Yay Sammie!


Sammie's other new big thing lately is that she can climb the stairs!! She goes up, up, up all by herself (whether or not Mom is in position to help her if she gets in trouble... scary!). She looks like such a big girl, climbing the stairs.


She also loves her bath! Our new bath routine is that I get the water started, then let her stand up next to the tub watching it fill, while I get her clothes off. She gets so excited, and tries to climb over the edge to get in faster. Tell me if anyone is offended by nudie Sammie picts. I just think they're so funny and cute.

Visiting a dear friend

Samantha and I took a little road trip up north last week, to visit one of my mission companions, Mary Walker. She lives in charming West Yorkshire, in some of the most beautiful countryside I've seen. Rolling hills, green grass, sheep, and stone fences the order of the day. I loved best all the little stone cottages and medieval churches in each valley.



Mary gave us a wonderful driving tour of the area, including a lovely lunch at her one of her favorite inns, and a scenic walk by a lake. Samantha got to do a little dip in the lake, even though it wasn't the warmest day. She didn't seem to mind the cold and would have gone diving in head first if I hadn't been holding on tightly.

Sammie had her first ride in a real swing, with some steadying by Mary. She loved it! At first she was a little hesitant, but then she really got excited about it.

Sammie really enjoyed being at Mary's house. She loved all the new things to play with, and was especially impressed with her stroller. I took this shot just before she realized she was stuck and started hollering.

Out and About in Cambridge

A couple of weeks ago, a group of us took a little train ride to Cambridge for the day to see the city. It was a fun day out on the town -- four friends, three and a half (or more) kids, and a gorgeous sunny day.


Cambridge has several old-school colleges and universities that are pretty prestigious. We took some pictures of some of the old buildings and walked along their charming little cobbled streets, shopping for souvenirs and market goods.



The best part was a boat ride that we took down the river. Our guide told us all about the history of the colleges and the buildings we were seeing. We really enjoyed watching Samantha... she REALLY enjoyed the ride! She spent most of her time hanging over the edge, dangling her hands in the water. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pictures of her in action, but imagine me holding on to her for dear life while she tried escaping over the side! Cutie.


Her namesake (heehee), Samantha Jr. -- as we sometimes call her -- was giving lots of good smiles on the way home, but I didn't catch one on the camera.

More lovely Austria pictures

Okay, so this post was supposed to immediately follow our "Where's Sammie" post from Austria. I just thought it'd be of interest to some of you to know we DID take pictures that didn't include our baby. Actually, the city is so gorgeous, and we really enjoyed looking around...


Here (below) are some shots of the royal opera house. We took a nice long tour where they told us all the architectural details. Umm... I don't remember them. But it was a really beautiful building.


All dressed up to go to the show! Unfortunately they didn't have a baby costume for Sammie to try on. But hey, Brian and I were in style, eh?

Here's Brian and Samantha backstage at the operahouse. It was one of the biggest stages in the opera world, or something like that. They were getting ready for a big production that night, which was fun to see all the equipment.

The highlight of our trip was probably our visit to Schonbrunn Palace. It was MASSIVE! We took a tour of the inside. Apparently Mozart gave a concert to the queen in one of the rooms of the palace when he was only six. That was a fascinating tidbit.


Just to give an idea how big the whole palace and grounds are... In this picture (below) I'm standing right in front of the back side of the palace, facing the grounds. The facade you see waaaay back in the background is the bottom end of the garden. We took the following picture from the top of that facade!

Looks like a postcard, doesn't it?

And here's the LDS Chapel in Vienna. We really liked the layout of the building. They had a ward in English that we attended. Because Samantha was dressed in that little Austrian dress, they thought we were Austrians -- new members.

I was impatient when Brian was taking this shot. He kept waiting for other tourists to clear out so he could get a shot with JUST the statue. I have to admit, it turned out pretty nicely. And, come to find out it's a statue of someone famous, like Hayden or Beethoven or someone. (Nice, how I'm so hazy on the finer details of things, eh?)

Another oddity... This house is famous for its funky architecture and bright, wild colors. It's hard to tell from the photo, but nearly all the windows are different shapes and sizes, and it looks like the floors must change levels throughout the building from room to room. It's called something like the WunderHasser. (I really did know the name, when we first came home.)

That's all for now, folks. It was a fun trip and we really enjoyed the break away from normal life and details.